Filed under: recipes
Early in December I went with the members of my book group to The Greentree Tea Room in Lexington, KY. One of the delicious items on the menu that day was Tomato Bisque Soup. The only tomato soup I had ever had was from a can, so this was a real experience. :) The soup was positively dreamy! We asked if it was possible to get the recipe, and were told that they did not give out their recipes. Wah! Once I got home I started searching the internet for a soup recipe that seemed like it might be similar. I found some that seemed like they might work, and have been experimenting with my own changes until I have a recipe that is just about as wonderful as the tea room was serving. This is easy to make, although it takes a little time, and it is very good even reheated. I’ve been making this big batch of the soup and then enjoying it for every lunch for a week or so.
Ingredients:
1 stalk of celery
6 ounces of diced carrots–basically one big carrot, or about a cup or so of matchstick carrots. Adding a little extra won’t hurt a thing, so go ahead and be generous. 
half a sweet onion
one parsnip
2 teaspoons minced garlic
a teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon parsley-fresh or dried
1 bay leaf
half cup whole wheat flour
6 tablespoons butter
1 quart chicken broth (use a kind without MSG)
24 ounces diced tomatoes (leave the liquid in)
8 ounces tomato paste (I just use one of those little cans. it’s not an exact measurement but it works fine)
2 cups whipping cream
Using your food processor, chop the carrots, celery, parsnip, and onion until finely diced. The smaller the better. Then combine those vegetables with the garlic, black pepper, parsley, bay leaf, chicken broth, diced tomatoes, and tomato paste in a large soup pot. Cover and bring to a boil. Let boil approximately 10 minutes, then turn temperature down to a simmer. Let simmer for 50 minutes.
At this point you need to have a colander inside of a large bowl. Pour the soup into the colander so that the liquid drains into the bowl. Pour the non-liquid items into your food processor. (try to find and remove the bay leaf first) Pour the liquid back into the soup pot. Add the butter and half cup of flour. On medium-high heat, use a whisk to stir the liquid, butter, and flour until it thickens. (it doesn’t take long) In the meantime, whiz up the rest of the soup stuff in the food processor until it is very finely minced. Once the liquid-flour-butter is thickened, add the stuff from the food processor back into the soup pot. Use whisk to mix it all up. Turn off the heat. Add the two cups of whipping cream and whisk into the soup. Enjoy!